Mighty Marvel Monday: All-New All-Different Reviews

Hello and welcome back to another Mighty Marvel Monday!

Lots of stuff to talk about this week, but first–

IT’S JESSICA JONES WEEK!!!

krystenritterdance

That’s right. The full Jessica Jones series will be released by Netflix this Friday, and I could not be more excited. And just in case you missed it, here’s the final trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3UYWK2jeX0

And in preparation for next week’s Jessica Jones review round up, I wanted to refocus this week on the world of Marvel comics.

So, I certainly can’t afford to buy all the All-New All-Different #1s that are coming out, so I have to pick carefully, which is why I’ve been enjoying Alexander Jones’ series on Comics Beat which reviews the ANAD #1s that have been released the week before. (Week 1  Week 2  Week 3  Week 4  Week 5  Week 6). Although, honestly, when I went to buy my first round of ANAD comics to read and review, I picked the stories with my faves. Sadly, I will only be continuing with one of them.

anadhawkeye1

The Good

Hawkeye #1

Jeff Lemire (writer)

Ramon Perez (artist)

Ian Herring (colors)

VC’s Joe Sabino (lettering)

 

I love Kate Bishop and I love Clint Barton. I continued with Lemire and Perez’s post-Matt Fraction Hawkeye title, and so I was fully prepared to continue with them here–and I will be.

Kate Bishop continues to be co-lead in the Hawkeye title, which makes me very happy. The storyline is a little weird, taking place in both the future and the present. I’m really hoping that there’s going to be some time travel involved to “fix” the future, otherwise I’m not going to be happy. But the artwork is great, and writing is in character, and I’m hoping the co-lead continues.

 

 

anadnewavengersThe Meh

New Avengers #1

Al Ewing (writer)

Gerardo Sandoval (artist)

Dono Sanchez Amara (color artist)

VC’s Joe Caramanga (letterer)

The return of Billy Kaplan (Wiccan) and Teddy Altman (Hulkling) was one of the titles I was most looking forward to, since I have loved these boys for over a decade when they were first introduced, and when I found out they were going to be on a team with Squirrel Girl and Hawkeye

(Clint, not Kate, which is…weird, since Kate was also a Young Avenger and came up with Billy and Teddy) I was extra excited.

Even though I was pleased to see my boys back, and I was pleased to see Pod (Aikku Jokinen), who is queer (although how we know she’s queer I’m a little unclear about…), and Squirrel Girl is adorable (and possibly better written than in her ongoing….)…I am conflicted about whether to continue. The writing is pretty bad. I know it’s a #1 and there’s a lot of exposition and reintroduction to characters that has to take place, but I don’t know anything about these characters personalities except Squirrel Girl’s. Also, you are never going to win me over as a reader when alternate universe Reed Richards is your villain, but that’s just because I’m such a big Fantastic Four fan. 

And I’m deeply, DEEPLY disappointed in the art. I just can’t take Billy seriously when he looks like this, and the hyperstylized aesthetic doesn’t look good on anyone. I’m not sure better writing could save the art at all. I will say that the coloring is amazingly gorgeous, and wasted on this art, but at this point, the only motivation I have to buy issue #2 is to support Billy, Teddy, and Pod and hope that it gets better, and I’m not sure I want to just yet.

 

 

anadultimatesUltimates #1

Al Ewing (writer)

Kenneth Rocafort (artist)

Dan Brown (color artist)

VC’s Joe Sabino (letterer)

I was also really excited for this title, which gives me a team entirely composed of underepresented groups. The team has three women–Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau (now known as Spectre), America Chavez–and two black men, T’Challa and Dr. Adam Brashear a.k.a. Blue Marvel, whose absence I noted a little while ago. They had me at America Chavez, honestly, but the rest of the line up looked pretty awesome, and it is. They’re badass. It’s clear that that’s why they’re the Ultimates.

The writing is pretty good for Ewing. It’s a better #1 introduction to the characters and the dynamic of the team than New Avengers was. I actually get a sense of these characters’ personalities, though it feels as though that’s at the expense of pacing. The issue feels slow at the beginning and too quick at the end. I could maybe forgive this pacing issue and give this title the benefit of the doubt if the art wasn’t so bad. Like really bad. All of Rocafort’s women have the same face–which is impressive since his women are black, white, and latina–and he drew a thigh gap on Captain Marvel that looks photoshopped. Just…no. Once again, the coloring is top notch, though, and wasted on this art. 

 

anadwebThe Bad

Web Warriors #1

Mike Costa (writer)

David Baldeon (penciler)

Scott Hanna (inker)

Jason Keith (colorist)

VC’s Joe Caramagna (letterer)

I picked up this title solely because I loved Spider-Man: India back in the day, and I was excited to see the return of Pavitr Prabhakar, but this is just bad. Granted, I haven’t read any of the Spider-Verse chronicles, but I could still follow along with the plot. That part wasn’t bad. It was the actual writing of the characters that was bad. Even a bonus Steampunk Spider Lady story by Robbie Thompson couldn’t save this ish. Yuck.

 

But Not All Hope Is Lost…

Despite the odds (1 out of 4 is…pretty bad) I’m not disheartened yet. There are a few titles I haven’t read because I’m not familiar with the characters that I’m interested in reading now, like Angela: Queen of Hel and the Uncanny titles with Johnny Storm (although part of me rebels at the idea of Johnny on a team that isn’t the Fantastic Four….) AND happily there are still some titles that I was excited for which aren’t out yet, so in a few weeks I may return to talk about them.

  • Ms.Marvel re-debuts this week, and I love G. Willow Wilson like, a lot, so I’m excited to read this.
  • Silk. Robbie Thompson is another one of my new favorite Marvel writers, so I’m excited for Cindy Moon’s re-debut next week.

And–there’s also this brand new title that Marvel just announced!

One of the most difficult things about Marvel is the sheer number of comics that exist. The main continuity has so many titles to follow to begin with, that I tend to ignore everything else, like when Weirdworld debuted during Secret Wars, even when Jason Aaron (Lady Thor!) was writing it, but this past week, Marvel announced that Weirdworld would be continuing (possibly rebooting?) with a new Weirdworld #1. Normally I wouldn’t consider myself the audience for a fantasy genre thing, but I’m actually kind of excited for it. This title has a lot of things that just ping me right: teenage girl protagonist! Morgan Le Fay! Warrior women! I don’t think I’ve ever read anything written by Sam Humphries, so I don’t really know much about him, but Mike del Mundo’s art is some of the most gorgeous art I’ve seen in a Marvel comic for a long time.

Also, in this interview with del Mundo, he shares the character artwork for a character named Goleta, described as “a tall, strong, full figured Viking woman with Marilyn Monroe hair,” who I want to cosplay immediately.

ICYMI

I usually try to end MMM with something happy, and several times in the past I’ve linked to Hayley Atwell’s social media in order to do that, which is why I was so incredibly sad to learn that she’s left social media.

It’s a sad day, but I want to add my own message of support. I know that being on social media on top of being an actor must be exhausting, and I appreciate that rather than turn her twitter over to her PR firm, she’s opted for authenticity, and decided to just leave. I hope she finds the present-ness and privacy that she needs, and I want to thank her for all the joy she’s brought to me and so many other fans.

And in case you need something happy–here’s a link to a Miles Morales fan movie.

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Kate Tanski

Kate Tanski

Recovering academic. Fangirl. Geek knitter.

4 thoughts on “Mighty Marvel Monday: All-New All-Different Reviews

  1. Wait, so the writing is “pretty bad,” but Squirrel Girl is written better than in the ongoing?! Kate, you’re killing me.

    Also, Weirdworld sounds awesome. Yeah, I’ll read that. It’s got warrior women…but you probably already knew I would read it based on that.

    1. Squirrel Girl was the only character I think Ewing wrote well in New Avengers! Her parts actually showed personality, and I’ve heard nothing but bad things about the rebooted one.

      And I totally thought Weirdworld had your name all over it 🙂

  2. I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one disappointed by New Avengers. How can some of my favorite characters come across so.. bleh? I tried to look past the art, since the author also wrote Agent of Asgard, which I loved, but it’s just failing all around. I want comics with Billy as a lead to succeed, but I just can’t see this doing so well.

    So far out of All-new, I’ve most enjoyed the new Iron Man, Deadpool and Spider-Gwen the most. Looking forward to the Daredevil next month as well. Hopefully these all pick up!

    Great reviews :3 Can’t wait for the Jessica Jones marathons coming up!

    1. Yeah, I love Billy and Teddy forever, but I’m not going to buy a series just because they’re in it. I can’t afford to when there are so many awesome titles out there! And ahaha yes–time to hunker down for Jessica Jones! 🙂

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